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Bitcoin price crosses $52,000 for first time in two years

Brian McGleenon
Updated ·2-min read
PARIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 13: In this photo illustration, a visual representation of the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin is displayed in front of a Bitcoin course's graph on February 13, 2024 in Paris, France. Bitcoin crosses the $50,000 mark for the first time in two years. Bitcoin is the world's largest cryptocurrency and recently received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to allow bitcoin exchange-traded funds. (Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images)
Bitcoin briefly broke through the $52,000 mark on Thursday. (Chesnot via Getty Images)

Bitcoin surpassed the $52,000 mark on Thursday, propelled by increased allocations from fund managers like BlackRock (BLK) and Franklin Templeton (BEN) into multiple exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) stood at $51,990 (£41,420) at the time of writing, an increase of almost 4% — a level not seen since December 2021.

The market capitalisation of bitcoin rose above the psychologically noteworthy $1tn mark, according to data from CoinGecko.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first US-listed ETFs to track bitcoin (BTC-USD) in January. A spot bitcoin ETF is a financial product that investors anticipate could open the gateway for mainstream capital to flood the crypto market.

Read more: Crypto live prices

Investors are now anticipating bitcoins's halving event, expected to occur in April, which will decrease the issuance of new bitcoin by 50%.

The bitcoin halving event

The halving event refers to a process in bitcoin's protocol where the reward for mining new blocks is reduced by 50%, effectively decreasing the rate at which new bitcoins are created.

The potential impact of the halving on bitcoin supply, along with the growing demand from fund managers allocating into the asset class through multiple ETFs, could stimulate an upward movement in the price of bitcoin. Historically, bitcoin halving events have been positive for the price of the cryptocurrency.

Increase in BTC demand via ETFs

Demand-side pressure on bitcoin has been increasing from institutional buyers. In their first month of trading, the two leading spot BTC ETFs, from BlackRock and Fidelity, have posted the largest ETF debuts recorded so far for these products, surpassing $3bn in assets under management within their first month, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.

Read more: Institutional investment brings new momentum to crypto

As a category, spot bitcoin ETFs have purchased over 200,000 BTC, worth nearly $9.5bn.

Last week saw $1.1bn of new inflows to spot bitcoin ETFs, marking their largest week of inflows yet, according to Coinbase (COIN).

Watch: Bitcoin ETF has opened doors for ether spot, says Zodia CEO | Future Focus

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